Proper 23B + The flow of Grace + 10.11.15
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Job 23:1–9, 16–17;
Ps 22:1–15; Hebrews 4:12–16; Mark 10:17–31)
I
was reminded of something when we went to the Dodgers Night again this year.
And that is that one of my favorite moments when I attend a baseball game is
when we do the wave. Someone starts it and stands up and, if it works, it
suddenly spreads around the whole stadium in a big consistent wave of people
until it returns to the person with whom it began. It always feels like a
moment of human connectedness, of church almost, in the middle of an otherwise
seemingly secular American pastime.
The
wave is a very particular thing, however. Everyone more or less needs to be
willing to stand up for a moment, and if too many people in area cannot or will
not do it, it gets stuck. People need to keep moving and responding so that the
motion goes all around in order for the magic of the wave to happen.
Which
brings me to the ocean. One of my favorite aspects of living in Oxnard is that
I can go and just commune with the ocean from time to time. I have realized
that just being at the beach and watching and hearing the waves go out and come
in is very restful for me. It is not just stillness, but there is a calm in
that motion—water flowing in, water flowing out—that brings me peace. As
someone pointed out to me this week, if the water just flowed out, it would be
terrible.[1]
And if it just flowed in, it would be equally bad. The rhythm is the thing.
Today,
we see that Job’s tide seems to have completely gone out. He has lost
everything but his life, and he has been trying to hang in there, God love him,
but he finally complains. He even takes a famous Psalm, 139, you know the one
about how we can never go away from God? And he turns it around, saying he is
looking in every direction and not finding God anywhere.[2]
How frustrating. It is as if God, and the water of life, has all flown out. But
we will see next week that God has not completely abandoned Job, but does come
to him. Everything that has been taken away is restored. Although I must admit
that I always have to read this all a bit allegorically, otherwise, poor previous
whole family! Anyone who has lost family members knows that just having a new
person in your life does not replace the person you lost. But I digress. God
does come to Job and he will eventually find grace flowing back into his life
again, but his story is a reminder that sometimes we have dry times and we need
better friends than Job’s in order to keep the faith with and for us until we
feel God’s love and grace once more.
In
the gospel passage we hear Jesus ask a man to give up all of his possessions to
the poor. In contrast to Job, who literally does lose everything, he appears to
feel like he is being asked to give up everything along with his possessions.
And in a way, it is clear. He is called the “rich young ruler” or something of
the like. He is not Bar-Somebody, or Son of Somebody, but his whole identity is
the rich dude. So in a way he cannot help but see Jesus’ request as a request
to give up his whole identity as well as his stuff.
Now,
I do not mean to speak too lightly about how losing your property can lead to a
loss of identity in our society. I have been blessed not to experience this,
but what I have learned from those who are homeless or who have been homeless,
is that in some cases a complete loss of identity occurs. Who am I without the
trappings of society? Without my job or my apartment or my nice clothing? This
experience can be devastating. I am keenly aware of this as I prepare to help
serve at the Bread of Life dinner today.
But
let us look at this passage again. Jesus is not just saying, get rid of
everything and go sit on a street corner, but he is saying, come, follow me. He
is looking at him and loving him. Loving him. This is the only time in the
gospel of Mark that Jesus is noted as loving someone, folks.[3]
It is important! Jesus not only loves this man, but he is inviting him. Yet he
cannot hear it. It is as if the flow has stopped with him; as if in acquiring
many things, he has forgotten to give things away too, in order to be able to
give of himself to the world.
Now
this can go both ways. Sometimes folks can be equally stuck, equally not open
to the flow of God’s grace, when they are low income. I think it would be a
mistake to see this gospel reading as a glorification of poverty. Those who
have been on the edges know that when you are low income, you get desperate,
and you grab for anything that will give you security. But that place of
grabbing can make you closed to God’s grace in your life. If you are in such a
place and you are blessed by another, you may not experience gratitude to God
for that blessing, or see it as a promise of God’s promise to care for your
needs. You may simply yearn for more blessings, and in the grabbing you will be
stuck also. It takes openness to God’s grace
to let God’s work flow into and out of your life.
Every
day, Jesus invites us, too. But we have to be open to it, open to the meaning
of his look of love. We have to be open to flow in different aspects of ourselves
and our lives.
A
clear example of this in church terms can be seen in our Stewardship of
resources at the church—in what we call the stewardship of our Time, Treasure
and Talent. For me, giving a portion of my time, treasure and talent is a way
to keep the flow going. When I “strive to tithe” but not only with my money,
but my whole life, I find that in not holding things to myself and hording up
earthly things, I am more aware of God’s abundant blessings in my life. I
acknowledge that at a very basic level, everything I have, every “good,” is
really from God. Some of which are more spiritual than material, but some of
which are material.
Am
I preaching a sort of Prosperity Gospel here? Mostly, no, because I do not mean
to say that you need to give a certain amount to the church in order to be
blessed, or that if you experience economic or other hardships, you are less
loved by God. We know that Jesus’ loving gaze is for all of us, even if we just
hear about it here in Mark. But I do think that time and again I have
experienced and heard from others, that when they give of what God has given
them, they receive back so much more.
I
know that giving for me has had different waves. First, when Alene first helped
me to put ten percent or more of my income aside for giving to the church and
other charities, I had some growing pains. I felt like I had plenty of money to
give away to others, but not enough for what I wanted. I always had enough for
what I needed, but at times I felt a bit awkward in the transition.
Recently I have noticed a very different phenomenon. More often than not I now want to give more than we technically have budgeted, but oddly enough, God provides! Go figure.
Recently I have noticed a very different phenomenon. More often than not I now want to give more than we technically have budgeted, but oddly enough, God provides! Go figure.
But
the point is, to give. To give of every aspect of yourself, including your
money. Not just here in the church, but in the world. Yes we are entering
stewardship season, but we know that just as the rich young man had to go and
find another identity, and I hope he did, our primary identity is that of
Christian. And that means we live out our faith in generosity in every aspect
of our lives. In sharing our talents at church, sure. But also in sharing our
talents in our work or volunteer places, or with our friends. In being generous
with our time as we can, because you never know when a helping hand or a kind
ear makes the world of difference.
And
as we keep living this Christian life, we will experience that Grace flows in,
Grace flows out.
At times we will be overwhelmed with God’s love and grace, and other times we may feel like Job, completely far from God’s grace. But that feeling of God’s absence is an illusion, just as it is an illusion if we think we have everything but we don’t count God on the top of our list of goods. When we feel that grace flow out, that is the time for the wave to continue, for others to lift up around us and carry the flow of Grace forward and around. Pretty soon, we will be there again.
At times we will be overwhelmed with God’s love and grace, and other times we may feel like Job, completely far from God’s grace. But that feeling of God’s absence is an illusion, just as it is an illusion if we think we have everything but we don’t count God on the top of our list of goods. When we feel that grace flow out, that is the time for the wave to continue, for others to lift up around us and carry the flow of Grace forward and around. Pretty soon, we will be there again.
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